On May 11, 2015 a number of decrees and orders has appeared, specifying the new Dutch labour law ‘WWZ’ in further detail. Based on the WWZ, as from 1 July 2015, an employee who is dismissed after two years of employment will be entitled to a statutory severance payment, the so-called transitional payment (‘transitievergoeding)’. The new decrees and orders provide rules to prevent accumulation of this statutory transitional payment with collective or contractual severance payments and outplacement programs. They provide inter alia that under certain conditions no statutory transitional payment has to be paid in case of collective or individual agreements made before July 1, 2015 concerning specific severance payments or outplacement programs. Furthermore, it is specified in which cases costs incurred by employers during the employment contract can be deducted from the new statutory transitional payment.
Netherlands